AP File PhotoDave BingMayor Dave Bing today begins a process that could shape the future of Detroit for generations, hosting community groups and leaders at a private "land use summit" to discuss strategies for rightsizing the city.

"There's a lot of conversation, a lot of commentary about the plan," Bing told the Detroit Free Press editorial board in a video published today. "There is no plan. This is the beginning of the process of developing a plan."

Bing spurred that commentary in February, when said future land use plans for the city would include relocating residents from blighted to stable neighborhoods in an attempt to effectively target city services to areas of need.

But even as Bing has stressed patience, suggesting the plan could take years to develop, the prospect of using eminent domain to force residents out of their homes has yielded some negative reactions in a community still smarting from the Poletown controversy of the early 80s.

Reaching out the community, both to listen and educate, is an important first step, and Karlan Henderson, director of the city's buildings and safety engineering department, told the Freep she hopes to come out of today's summit with a 12-18 month outline for the civic engagement process.

"We'll get a lot of data and take it out to the community and get some
feedback from them on what they want," Bing said. "In the end, we've
got to do what we've got to do in terms of land use. But I do want to
give them the opportunity to have input. It's not going to come from
just the professionals or just our staff."

Today's summit is the first of what the mayor has said will be monthly talks
with
community groups, many of whom are submitting their own plans and
proposals for the administration to consider.

"We're not saying we have all the answers," Bing said. " That is not
where we are. But we do know that in order for us to put a well tough
out developed plan to the public, there's a lot of backroom work that
needs to happen."